we are closing in on the end of the steve garvey binder pages from his playing days

it's almost an all-fleer page on sheet 23 of the steve garvey binder.  have a look:

those cards are:

1. 1987 fleer
2. 1987 fleer baseball's exciting stars
3. 1987 fleer baseball's game winners
4. 1987 fleer glossy
5. 1987 fleer limited edition
6. 1987 fleer mini
7. 1987 fleer star stickers
8. 1987 kraft
9. 1987 leaf

here are the backs:

what i find most interesting about all of these backs is that fleer went back to 1969 and included garvey's albuquerque stats on some of the backs.  others start with his big league experience from 1969, yet those same cards keep his 1970 minor league numbers from triple-a spokane.  all of the cards, however, leave out his 1968 stats from ogden - stats that would have completed his professional career numbers.

i am looking forward to getting through the garv's playing days and back to some dodger cards on these sheets!

final tributes for the hit king

i bought a couple of singles from the 2012 leaf 'the living legend' pete rose set.  i was hoping to find a card from hit 4192 with the garv in the background, but i was sol.  instead, i picked up this card that comes from that same moment, just before or after rose points to the crowd with garvey looking on.  it's a fitting photo for a tribute.

of course, that moment came in 1985, and pete rose had another season to play.  and, his 1986 topps or fleer cards didn't even use photos from his historic night anyway.  yes, i contend that even the record breaker card that topps issued doesn't use a photo from hit 4192.  donruss did issue a card with images from hit 4191 and 4192, which was nice of them.

still, rose's true final tributes didn't come until the 1987 sets were released as he played in his final game on august 17, 1986.  in that game he sent himself to the plate as a pinch hitter against the padres, and struck out against goose gossage.  rose was released from his contract as a player after the 1986 season, but he was retained as the team's manager.  here is his topps final tribute

with his complete career stats on the back

he is still the all-time leader in games, at bats, hits, singles, plate appearances and times on base.  of course, he also made more outs than anyone else whoever played the game.

rose had two other cards in the 1987 topps set - his manager card

which was also the team checklist

and the reds leaders card

which showed a managerial visit to the mound, with the manager also being the first baseman

rose only played in 72 games for the 1986 reds, so he wasn't an offensive leader by any stretch.

here's what donruss offered in the way of a final tribute

with truncated career stats

here's the leaf version

with the french

i think donruss/leaf jumped the gun a bit on the 'future hall of famer' thing...

how about fleer's version?  here's the front

and back

they are missing a few years of stats there.

i think the topps version is my favorite.  in case you are wondering (since i showed the leaf version) o-pee-chee made one, too, which i have somewhere.

i am not a rose apologist, but i am a fan, and i wish that he had never bet on baseball so that he could be enshrined in cooperstown and featured in current licensed sets.  back in 2008, rose popped up in a couple of donruss sets, like this sports legends issue

and this donruss threads issue

i was pleased.  maybe someday rose will be reinstated (not likely) and we will see a bunch of topps cards featuring the hit king in full uniform with logos.  until then, we get cards like this one

at least steve sax is recognizable, even without the dodgers script on his chest.

ay karim-ba!

i've picked up a few auto/game used dodger lots lately, and they all seem to have one thing in common:  karim garcia autos.  here are just a couple of the former dodger prospect.

this one is from 1995 classic 5 sport

and this one comes from 1996 best

but wait, that's not all. nick from dime boxes sent me a package recently, and wouldn't you know it - karim garcia made an appearance.  not once, mind you, with this 1996 topps stadium club card

but twice, thanks to this 1997 score select parallel

garcia debuted in 1995 as a 19-year old for the dodgers, and went 2 for 3 in his first big league start.  he wound up getting only 20 at bats that year, and just one in 1996, as the dodgers had todd hollandsworth higher on the depth chart.  in 1997, he got a little more playing time (and not just in september), but was selected by the diamondbacks in the expansion draft, and away he went.  garcia wound up playing for 7 teams over his 10-year career, which included two stints with the indians.  garcia made it to the postseason once, but his 2003 yankees lost to hollandsworth's marlins in the world series that year.

nick also sent a very nice 2001 topps archives card of roy campanella

now if only i had a copy of the real thing...

here are a few more goodies - 1994 pacific tom candiotti

with the knuckleballer showing good pee-wee baseball pitching form.

joe thurston was another dodger prospect who wound up bouncing around a bit

i hadn't seen that 2003 upper deck honor roll card, so i was happy to receive it.  thurston spent time with the astros, phillies, and twins organizations this year.  i have a soft spot for dodger second base prospects, so i hope he is able to hang on somewhere.

speaking of prospects, here's a prospective superstar.  at least according to upper deck

that's ricardo rodriguez on a 2001 ud pros and prospects card.  the dodgers wound up trading rodriguez to the indians in 2002 for paul shuey.  he debuted in the big leagues that year and pitched into the 2007 season, although his last major league appearance was in 2005 for the rangers.

finally, there were some 1987 leaf cards, like this one of mike scioscia

and two saxy steve sax cards

it's a good thing nick included the other leaf cards, otherwise i would have mistaken the diamond king for the donruss version.

thanks for another great trade nick!

cards from andrew

it's awesome to get emails with trade offers from readers.  it's more awesome when the offer includes some vintage dodger greatness!  such was the case recently when andrew contacted me.  he's a fellow dodger fan and collector, so we were able to put together a trade pretty quickly.  check out some of the cards he sent.

1960 topps gil hodges!

happy gil to boot.  his penultimate dodger card, and one of the few i didn't already have.  gil wouldn't be smiling much after this as his production took a huge drop in 1960 and never really recovered.  still, he was gil hodges, so he had that going for him.

1960 topps larry sherry

larry sherry was coming off of a stellar performance in the 1959 world series in which he won 2 games and saved the other 2 dodger victories, earning the series mvp award along the way.

1986 leaf bob welch

i don't post enough welch cards.  this is a nice dodger stadium shot of the kid who struck out reggie to end game 2 of the 78 world series.  awesome.  welch had an odd year in 86 - he pitched well but without much support as his 3.28 era, 1.19 whip, and 7-13 record would indicate.

1987 leaf orel hershiser

another dodger stadium shot!  orel would go 16-16 in 1987 with a save and just 1 shutout as a warmup for his fantastic 1988 season.  whoda thunkit?

1989 fleer mike scioscia all star insert

scioscia really was an all star in 1989 (and 1990, too) but this card is based on 1988 happenings.  gary carter and lance parrish were the official all stars in 1988, but i'm glad fleer threw some love to the plate-blocking, dwight gooden busting scioscia.

2010 topps manny ramirez toppstown

manny has quietly got his average up to .322 and his ops is currently .937.  i am really hoping for a big second half from him as he chases his next contract.

thanks andrew!